Review: The Big Bad Lies by Leslie Patricelli

Today, I'm hitting another double review and both books swing around the theme of friendship and silly problems. The first one is the highlight of the day and introduces what promises to be a wonderful series. After reading the blurb, I was excited to get my hands on this one as it centers around a pair of friends and all the silly problems they encounter in middle grade. I was hoping these two would be a blast, and they are. Oh, and this one is for lower middle graders or those slightly younger ones, who are very sure of their words.

Ready to dive into a ton of fun?

THE BIG BAD LIES

The Rizzlerunk Club

by Leslie Patricelli

Candlewick Press

Middle Grade Fiction

256 pages

ages 8 to 12

COMING...

JANUARY 25th!!!

When a little lie turns into a more serious one, will Lily and Darby's friendship survive--or is it the end of the Rizzlerunk Club?

Lily Lattuga finally feels settled after moving to a new town and starting the fourth grade at a new school. She gets to live right across the lake from her best friend, Darby, who loves frogs and drawing

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MY TIDBITS

Humor, friendship, and all the craziness of middle school weave in important lessons to make a fun and rich book for early readers, who aren't quite ready for a full-fledged novel quite yet.

Lily finally has a best friend, Darby, and together, they form the Rizzlerunk Club. Everything runs smoothly...well, as smoothly as anything can in middle school...when an new kid hits the classroom. His lies are driving Lily crazy, although Darby only has googly-eyes for him. But as his lies catch up with him, so does trouble for Darby and Lily. The situations not only threaten to run out of control, but a whole lot of silliness comes with it.

Lily is a energetic girl, whose mind wanders as she rattles along. But then, this story goes from one nonsense right into the next without a second's pause. All of it rotates around daily life in middle school, where drama runs high, logic is a little off, and good intentions seem to turn out with not so good results. There are a lot of life lessons, and it's no problem to feel at home with Lily and wish you could jump into her crazy life for a few minutes.

Friendship is golden, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. Darby and Lily make quite the pair as they both let their imaginations fly, make bad judgements, try to support the other, and all the while, manage to try to work things out  Their predicaments did make me smile because for all the silliness, so much hits reality, too.

The added illustrations offer a wonderful break between words, help clarify situations, and do pump the humor, too. These were sprinkled in at just the right times and well done

In other words, this is a fun book and I bet this is an even better series

And here she is...

Leslie Patricelli is the author-illustrator of Potty, Huggy Kissy, and many more best-selling board books for young children starring a beloved bald baby. She is also the author-illustrator of Higher! Higher!, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book, as well as the first novel in the Rizzlerunk series, The Rizzlerunk Club: Best Buds Under Frogs. Leslie Patricelli lives in Idaho.